Today we’re updating the Active Duty map pool; Cobblestone is out and CS:GO’s most iconic map, Dust II, is back in!
The revised Active Duty pool will be featured at the FACEIT Major in London later this year. And don’t worry – if you were hoping to queue for Cobblestone, it’s still available in each game mode.

Nuke available in Wingman

We’re also adding a shortened version of Nuke to the Wingman map pool. This version of Nuke features some experimental changes to the B bomb site, so queue for a match if you’d like to get a sneak peek.

Casual Map Groups

The casual map groups have been adjusted based on map playtime. Cobblestone has been moved into the ‘Delta’ Map group. Shipped and Austria have been moved into the ‘Sigma’ Map group.

Revisiting Trade

Steam trading was created to allow customers to easily exchange items with each other, and each day we see thousands of customers using Steam Trading in this way. Recently we’ve been looking into ways to reduce some negative unintended uses of trading in CS:GO (such as fraud and scams), with the goal of preserving trade between players.

Starting today, CS:GO items received in trade will have the same seven-day trade cooldown as items purchased in-game or via the Steam Community Market.

Over time, third-parties have developed services that use automated Steam accounts to mimic players and make use of Steam’s trading functionality. Unfortunately, some of these third party services have become a vector for fraud or scams. Unlike players, these services rely on the ability to trade each item very frequently. In contrast, a given item moves between actual players no more than once a week in the vast majority of cases.

We want to make sure that Steam item trading is a useful feature that continues to provide customers with the freedom to give and receive items as they wish. However, we realize today’s change may also be disruptive to some players. We’ll continue to evaluate trading policies as time goes on, and if you have any feedback or concerns about the change you can email us at CSGOTeamFeedback [at] valvesoftware.com.

When we reworked the Negev last year, the goal was to identify a supporting role for the weapon. The Negev featured attributes that promoted suppressive fire — ineffective at first, but a controllable beam of death moments later.

At this point it’s clear that the upside of the weapon isn’t enough to compensate for its downsides, so we’re making additional adjustments. The goal hasn’t changed, but the implementation is a little different.

First, the good news: the Negev is now a little cheaper, a burst of several bullets is now more useful (at short and medium range, at least), and the “beam” starts a little sooner.

With its improved ability to deal damage in short bursts, the Negev can be useful in closer engagements like the one pictured above.

The bad news: the Negev now has lower armor penetration (no longer lethal to a helmet) and movement speed has been cut in half while firing; no more moving turrets.

Want to get a sneak peek? These changes are currently available to test in a beta release, and will be live for everyone in the coming days. Click here for more details!

Attendees of the Boston Major had the first opportunity to purchase Series 3 collectible pins. Like Series 1 and Series 2, the latest set of physical pins come with a matching Genuine in-game display item for your CS:GO profile.

Physical Series 3 pins are now available at WeLoveFine. If you’re only interested in the digital version, Series 3 Collectible Pin Capsules are also available as in-game offers.

Today we’re excited to announce the next CS:GO Major Championship Series, hosted by FACEIT. New and Returning Challengers will join the Legends in London this September, where they’ll battle for the title of CS:GO Major Champion.

Witness the event live from September 20-23 at SSE Arena, Wembley, or join the millions streaming the event online around the world!